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Welcome to Morcan Books & Films, the blog devoted to providing a unique perspective and intelligent commentary on books and films. It includes commentary on our own books and films – i.e. novels and screenplays co-written by the Morcans, and feature films produced by, or in development with, Morcan Motion Pictures.
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Famous last words: “I just shot John Lennon.” –Mark David Chapman

Most people old enough remember exactly where they were when they heard the news that John Lennon was shot dead in New York City on December 8, 1980. The murderer was Mark David Chapman – yet another lone gunman who stood glassy-eyed at the crime scene waiting for the police to arrive. A witness to the shooting asked him if he was aware what he’d just done. “I just shot John Lennon,” Chapman calmly replied.

The scene of Lennon’s assassination.

To add yet another curiosity to the mix, while Chapman patiently waited for the police to arrive and arrest him, he stood at the scene of the crime reading a copy of The Catcher in the Rye.

Many conspiracy theorists believe that finding this particular book in the hands of an assassin is no mere coincidence. Regardless, it must have been a macabre sight to see Lennon lying dead on the ground with his murderer standing over him happily reading J.D. Salinger’s classic novel.

Lennon in rehearsal.

Chapman’s assassination of John Lennon was probably the mother of all Catcher incidents. Not long before the murder, Chapman had wanted to change his name to the novel’s narrator and anti-hero Holden Caulfield – so enamored was he with this fictitious character; inside the very copy of the book Chapman had purchased on the day of the murder, police found he’d written, “To Holden Caulfield, From Holden Caulfield, This is my statement”; and during the court case that followed, Chapman read a passage from the novel when addressing the judge and jury during his sentencing.